Desire to hear each other spikes during lockdown

WATCH: Kiwis are talking to to each other again in a way we haven't done for a long time. Bernard Hickey talks to Vodafone's chief technology officer Tony Baird about New Zealand's 'back to the future moment'

Lockdown has seen a change in the way we are communicating. Voice calls on the Vodafone network have jumped by 60 percent, data usage is up 20 percent but texting is down by 15 percent.

"I'm calling voice the new social media because although we have video exchange going on, really, we are talking again and people have surged back to voice, " says Baird.

Building extra capacity into the data networks to cope with video streaming during the Rugby World Cup has proved fortuitous in coping with the increased demand.

Baird says the RWC build meant the country had 30 percent more headroom when demand surged. He also put the robust performance of our networks down to New Zealand's decision to invest in ultra fast broadband and competition between the telcos.

"We have surged way up the rankings (OECD )with UFB and we also have a very high density and level of competition between 2 degrees, Spark and Vodafone - so we have got a very resilient and high capacity 4G network."

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